"Melanins are unique biopolymers that protect living organisms against UV and ionizing radiation and extreme temperatures…For example, the melanotic fungus C. [Cladosporium] cladosporioides manifests radiotropism by growing in the direction of radioactive particles and this organism has become widely distributed in the areas surrounding Chernobyl since the nuclear accident in 1986 [7]. Both in the laboratory and in the field several other species of melanized fungi grew towards soil particles contaminated with different radionuclides, gradually engulfing and destroying those particles [35,36]…On the basis of these precedents and the results of this study we cautiously suggest that the ability of melanin to capture electromagnetic radiation combined with its remarkable oxidation-reduction properties may confer upon melanotic organisms the ability to harness radiation for metabolic energy." (Dadachova et al. 2007:10-11)

"Fungi are well-known for breaking down organic material, not creating
it from scratch, as plants do. But a fungus that might break that mold
has been discovered thriving at one of the most toxic sites in the
world: the defunct Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

The black fungus Cladosporium sphaerospermum
was collected from the reactor walls by a robot touring the radioactive
site, and it caught the attention of Arturo Casadevall of the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine. Intrigued by the phenomenon, Casadevall,
Ekaterina Dadachova, also of Einstein, and their colleagues exposed
colonies of C. sphaerospermum and two other species of fungus
to extravagantly high levels of radiation in the laboratory. Radiation,
they discovered, increases the growth of species that have melanin, the
dark pigment that also occurs in human skin. Furthermore, when the
investigators irradiated melanin in isolation, they noted dramatic
changes in its electronic properties. Melanin seems to capture energy
from radiation and convert it to chemical energy, much the way
chlorophyll in plants captures the energy of sunlight.

If C. sphaerospermum
and the numerous other fungi that make melanin are indeed able to
'radiosynthesize,' fundamental equations describing the Earth's energy
balance might need to be recalculated. (PLoS ONE)" (Flores 2007)

Application Ideas: Radioprotection from nuclear fallout. New kinds of energy production based on capturing photons and electrons from radiation. Radiation cleanup efforts. Treatment of radioactive wastes. Manufacturing new products to produce energy from radioactive waste.